The Light of Seven Days
A Novel

What a darkly gorgeous book. I shed more than a few tears throughout and was deeply absorbed in the protagonist Dinah’s life, the sadness and horror of the discrimination she had to endure as a Jew in Soviet Russia and the trials she faced as an immigrant in the States. At the same time, there was s......more

4.5 Dinah is a Jew growing up in Soviet Russia in the 1970's-80's. Though she is raised agnostic, antisemitism occurs as people can recognize those of Jewish heritage. Her talent as a ballerina is discovered and she excels at her ballet school, but finally in her early 20's she must emigrate to the......more

I enjoyed this book at a five star level for much of the read, but the last 100 pages were a struggle. The main problem I had with this book was that I couldn’t help but want to know how much of it was autobiographical and how much was fiction. I googled River Adams but couldn’t find much about their......more

Adams' novel covers a broad range of ideas: antisemitism, racism in America, the post-Soviet era in Russia, the immigrant's story, Judaism, making a life and meaning for oneself. The world I'd use to describe how the story is told is: grace. There's grace in how the story reveals itself. I don't kno......more

This book is both beautiful and heart-wrenching. It is the story of Dinah, a professional ballerina in Russia, during the 1980s. It follows her story of being discriminated against because of her Jewish heritage even though she is not fully sure what that means. Eventually, she settles in the U.S. a......more